Outreach

Trinidad’s First ‘BioBlitz’

During a BioBlitz, scientists, naturalists and volunteers take part in a 24hr period of intense surveying of a particular area with the aim of estimating the number of species present, while educating and enthusing the public about their local biodiversity.

By Amy Deacon, founder of the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists’ Club Art Group

As the hybrid offspring of an artist and a biologist, combining painting and the natural world has always seemed quite an obvious thing to do. The attendance register from the inaugural outing of the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists Club Art Group proves that I am not alone: twenty people turned up at 9am on Saturday 14th April to enjoy a morning of drawing, painting and photography at UWI’s Zoology Museum.

As part of the Women in Science festival, over 90 p6/7 (10-11 year old) children from 3 local schools visited the University of St Andrews to listen to and meet female science PhD students through an event called the XX Factor. The purpose of this event was to encourage children from an early age to consider scientific careers, and to be aware of the breadth of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. In addition, the event was to provide the children (boys and girls) with positive female role models who can inspire and showcase that science is just as relevant for females as it is for males.